Especially in those fitted gray trousers and with the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt rolled up to his muscular biceps.
Objectively.
I tossed the apple in the basket as I joined his side. “I just don’t understand how you can keep yourself to that. Aren’t you ever tempted to see someone again?”
“Who has time? I know I’m not going to make space for a relationship in my life, so why go through all that? Anyway, Kai told me you were a romantic. I don’t expect you’d be on the same page.”
He stuck his head in a fridge full of yogurts while I thought about it. It’s true, I could never behave like he was describing, but the more I thought about it, the more I kind of appreciated the idea.
“It’s good that you never mislead anyone.”
“Thanks,” he answered with a grin. “I think so, too.”
We took off down the aisles again, passing a few people. I thought about censoring our conversation or switching the topic because of the crowd, but I kept ahead instead. “I think never having a second date is kind of extreme, but I guess I do understand. Kai’s forcing me into relationship detox for the same reasons you’re saying, so I won’t get distracted from other things I need to focus on right now.” I pushed my hair behind my ear. “I guess you probably knew that already.”
Leo shrugged and kept his face away. “I think he said something about it,” he answered quickly. “Should we check out, or did you need anything else?”
“This is great,” I said with a smile. “Thanks again for bringing me along.”
He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, then shot me a grin. The weird expression caught me off guard, and I chuckled as I followed him to the front of the store.
Leo was basically my total opposite, but I was starting to see that he wasn’t so bad. His cockiness was goofy more than it was arrogant, and his optimism felt like a nice relief after a lot of gray London days.
He might have had some totally absurd ideas about love, but I appreciated having the guy around.
Chapter Seven
Leo
Roger Hank satacross from my desk, complaining to me about his life while he played with his phone. The latest blowhard son in one of the wealthiest old families in Pittsburgh, he wore a pair of track pants and a plain T-shirt that were almost certainly as expensive as my suit.
“That must be really stressful for you,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, and when Roger launched into another monologue, my eyes darted behind him. Beyond the glass wall, I could see River working at his desk. He played with the collar of his white shirt, which he wore loosely unbuttoned at the top, and when he turned to grab something across the desk, I saw the small purple flower that he had pinned to his chest.
Desire roared through me. Cass and Shawn were right. There were so many rules stopping me from having him, but that was only making it all hotter.
A boss making a move on his employee was a hard no, as far as I was concerned. Silver Lining might have been in the business of scandals, but Kai and I fully intended to make our firm a place we could be proud of.
So there was no way I should be staring at River’s hand and studying how his fingers moved across his chest.
No way I should be thinking about fucking him over that desk while he shouted my name and begged for more.
“Leo?”
I blinked and turned to Roger. “Sorry, what was that?”
He sighed. “My father wants me to make some new endowment, or whatever I should call it. It’s five million right now, and then three million yearly going forward.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, endowment for what?”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you. It’s just a tax thing. I don’t give a flying shit where the money goes. But we’ll want you to handle the PR, so if you could just check with your research department and let us know what plays well, we can get started.”
I rubbed my temples. “An endowment,” I repeated. “That plays good?”
“Or a nonprofit. Some sort of fund. It just has to make us look good and move some money around.” He put his hands on his knees like he was going to stand, then paused. “And it should have my uncle’s name on it. Uncle Clay.”
“Of course,” I nodded. “We’ll have some ideas for you next week?”
Roger grinned and finally stood, still looking at his phone. “Thanks, Leo. You’re the best.”
